TLPI's New Opioid Crisis in Native America Fact Sheet Series

March 12, 2019

According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 5.2 percent (72,000) of American Indians and Alaska Natives aged 18 years and older reported misusing a prescription drug in the past year, and 4.0 percent (56,000) reporting misusing a prescription pain reliever in the past year.

Generally, an increase in prescriptions of opioid pain relievers have been accompanied by dramatic increases in misuse and a more than 200 percent increase in the number of emergency department visits. Heroin overdoese were more than five times higher in 2014 (10,574) than ten years before in 2004 (1,878).

This three-part fact sheet series overviews the opioid crisis, and details resources and strategies for combating it in Indian country.

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